CNN and other prominent news media outlets were blocked from a White House press briefing Friday afternoon.

The network said it was given no reason for being barred from the "gaggle," an informal briefing from White House press secretary Sean Spicer that is on the record but not televised. The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Politico and BBC were also blocked from the gathering, which was originally slated to be a routine on-camera briefing but was moved to Spicer's office.

Advertisement

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the administration "had the pool there so everyone would be represented and get an update from us today."

According to Politico, CBS, NBC, Fox, ABC, Hearst Newspapers, the White House, One America News Network, The Wall Street Journal, McClatchy, Breitbart News and Washington Times reporters were invited to the briefing. The Associated Press and Time Magazine boycotted the gaggle.

CNN, one of President Donald Trump's biggest foils, responded with a harsh statement: "This is an unacceptable development by the Trump White House. Apparently this is how they retaliate when you report facts they don't like. We'll keep reporting regardless."

The New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet said "Nothing like this has ever happened at the White House in our long history of covering multiple administrations of different parties.

"We strongly protest the exclusion of The New York Time and the other news organizations. Free media access to a transparent government is obviously of crucial national interest."

Earlier in the day at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump lashed out at outlets he labeled "fake news" and said reporters should not be allowed to use unnamed sources.

"I called the fake news the enemy of the people and they are," Trump said, adding that he wasn't opposed to the media as a whole. "They're very smart, they're very cunning. There are some terrible dishonest people and they do a tremendous disservice to our country."

The White House Correspondents Association condemned the ban.

“The W.H.C.A. board is protesting strongly against how today’s gaggle is being handled by the White House," the association's president Jeff Mason said in a statement. "We encourage the organizations that were allowed in to share the material with others in the press corps who were not. The board will be discussing this further with White House staff."